Well, I suppose things could be worse....

Recommended Posts

......Imagine if Trump were actually running things

President Trump seems to think he should have unfettered control over the country. Anyone who questions him or contradicts him is an enemy of the people or “a sick puppy,” as he called the head of an equal branch of government, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), on Monday. Thank goodness he does not have such power and that governors, Congress and his own medical advisers (when acting forcefully and in concert) restrain, block or work around him.

Consider his ill-conceived deadline for returning to business as usual by Easter. It was a dictate without force of law; governors have imposed a patchwork of stay-at-home measures that they, not Trump, will relax when they see fit. His decision over the weekend to change his imaginary deadline to a new imaginary date, April 30, provides him with a political escape hatch but carries no more weight than did the Easter deadline.

Interestingly, it took a chorus of medical experts pleading with Trump to do even that. It would have been obvious to any rational person that you do not encourage people in the middle of a pandemic to congregate. “We argued strongly with the president that he not withdraw those guidelines after 15 days, but that he extend them,” said Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “And he did listen.” That is a perfect example of how the health experts manage Trump: Don’t tell him it is idiotic to set a fixed deadline; instead, buy time so he does not deepen the crisis. For now.

Likewise, Trump has not abandoned or acknowledged as fraudulent his unenforceable proposal to “quarantine” New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which according to New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), may have set off panic and compelled people to move about more than they otherwise would have. Instead he says it is a “travel advisory,” another meaningless declaration.

In Trump’s book, keeping deaths to 100,000 people — more than twice the number of troops killed in Vietnam — would mean he did a “very good job.” This is monstrous and is an indication that he views a domestic disaster on a scale not seen for more than 100 years as “success.” (If we lose 200,000, would that be merely a “good job”? One million, a “college try”?) No wonder Trump is so cavalier about encouraging people to return to work; he views massive death as an acceptable price to pay to nudge the Dow Jones a few points higher. (I wonder if he would feel differently if the losses were in a key swing state, thereby heightening the damage to his reelection prospects.)

Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, appeared on NBC’s “Today" on Monday morning and warned, “I think everyone understands now that you can go from five to 50 to 500 to 5,000 cases very quickly. … We’re very worried about every city in the United States.” Of course, there was someone — Trump — who did not understand and failed to comprehend the exponential spread of the virus.

To Trump, it is foolhardy to plan for the worst. He scolds New York for getting ready for the apex of the disease. Last week, he actually told Sean Hannity, “I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be. I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators.” Based on what, he does not say, because, of course, it is based on nothing but his uninformed hunches. "You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’” Really, this is a mystery? The onset of a pandemic should not change hospital capacity or equipment purchases, in his mind. Once more, we should be grateful that states entirely ignore such blather and ramp up their resources to deal with the worst that has yet to come.

Left to Trump’s own devices we know exactly what would occur at the federal level: nothing. For at least two months, he did not ramp up to meet the crisis, bollixed testing and blamed the media. As the virus has spread, he has refused to accept that the pandemic he made worse has no predictable end. He has ridiculed calls for help from states.

In short, if Trump had his way, we would be at that worst case scenario — “1.6 million to 2.2 million” dead, according to Birx. We now face the monstrous reality that 100,000 to 200,000 dead may be the best we can do. Left unsaid by Trump’s advisers: Many of these deaths will be the minimum price we pay for Trump’s utter incompetence and willful blindness.

Share on other sites

other than a slow start i think trump has done ok. folks getting food stamps got one of two huge increases this week and the stimulus checks coming out for the little people i believe will be a blessing. i think most presidents would struggle right now. look at the recent unemployment numbers. look at the the other help he is trying to fast track for small businesses so hopefully they will still have a business when all this mess is over. while i can be very critical of trump i also pray for him. that is a true statement.